Pete

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) Tuesday said he plans to offer a proposal to extend by three years the terms of the flawed 1998-1999 deepwater Gulf of Mexico leases in exchange for producers renegotiating their contracts to pay royalties. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) signaled that she intends to introduce similar legislation.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) is pressing the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for an updated inventory of the natural gas and oil resource that currently is inaccessible because of leasing moratoria on part of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). However, a Domenici aide conceded that Republicans face an uphill battle getting any bill through Congress this year that would open up more of the OCS to oil and gas drilling.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, considers legislation opening new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas leasing to be a “top priority,” and he “got off the ground running by reaching out to the House” last Tuesday as lawmakers returned from their month-long recess, a spokeswoman for Domenici said.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, considers legislation opening new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas leasing to be a “top priority,” and he “got off the ground running by reaching out to the House” Tuesday as lawmakers returned from their month-long recess, a spokeswoman for Domenici said.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and other senators introduced legislation last Thursday that would open more than eight million acres to oil and natural gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as bolster the coastal states’ share of royalties on offshore production from new leases.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and other Republican leaders introduced legislation Thursday that would open more than eight million acres to oil and natural gas leasing in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as well as bolster the coastal states’ share of royalties on offshore production from new leases.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, warned Interior secretary nominee Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne Thursday not to side with one coastal state against another in the ongoing, heated dispute over whether to allow greater oil and natural gas leasing in the gas-prone eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, took to the Senate floor Wednesday to offer a compromise between competing Democratic and Republican energy proposals. He said he would support the Democrats’ proposal for a gasoline tax holiday if they would back Republicans’ efforts to spur more energy production.

U.S. Sens. Pete Domenici (R-NM), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Jim Talent (R-MO) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) have launched a counterattack on the issue of drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, introducing legislation Tuesday instructing the Secretary of the Interior to develop an oil and gas leasing program for Lease Area 181 that can extend up to a line 100 miles off the Florida Coast and west of the Military Mission Line.